I WOULD argue that Unilever valued its workforce in Great Harwood and was willing to invest here but pulled out of the town because of an unhelpful council and a few narrow-minded residents.

Both my parents and various relatives worked at Brooke Bond Oxo. I heard of incidents where workers' cars were damaged and said was put in petrol tanks by people who were annoyed at them parking on and around Windsor Road.

The management at the factory offered to provide a car park, screened by bushes, on a grassy area on Park Road. Due to the objections of some residents, the car park never materialised.

Wanting to expand because of the introduction of new machinery and the premises on Hartley Street being old and unsuitable, Unilever submitted plans for a new state-of-the-art factory on the site of the Premier Mill, a former canning works, behind Harwood Lane.

The plans showed a single-storeyed building complete with landscaping. Following several years of wrangling with the local council and a few vociferous residents, the company identified surplus capacity at a factory it had built in Worksop and so decided to relocate there. Only when this decision was made did the local council attempt to induce them to stay in the area but it was too little, too late.

Unilever offered assistance to any employee who wished to move to a job at the new location. Employees wanting to stay in this area were offered help with retraining and finding other employment.

Thus a good and forward-thinking company left Great Harwood and the town has been poorer since.

JOAN SOURBUTTS (Ms), Coronation Street, Great Harwood.